Cascais

Cascais is a beautiful fishing town only a short journey from Lisbon

Not surprisingly Cascais was once the exclusive resort for Portugal’s royal family. Nowadays Cascais caters for everyone and there is a host of reasons to pay a visit when visit Lisbon on your city break, in fact you might just return to Cascais to stay for your next Portuguese holiday.

Cascais old town centre has a great selection of boutique shops plus great restaurants, bars and cafes so make time to stroll through the cobbled streets to see what’s on offer. The small harbour still operates for fishing and is flanked by some beautiful buildings and there is a small beach located here if you feel like soaking up some sunshine or taking a dip in the sea to cool down.

Cascais also has a secret little beach which is only a three-minute walk from the harbour – if you walk up the hill on the right side of the harbour keeping to the coast, you’ll cross a short bridge. There are steps down from the bridge to a small cove and beach located under a magical palace built by Jorge O’Neill in 1900 and now home to an art museum.

Cascais also has a bustling promenade which stretches all the way to Estoril. Along the promenade are more beaches and you’ll find changing facilities, restaurants and bars at regular intervals. There are also some activities available on the Cascais promenade and why not try some paddle boarding and see Cascais from a different perspective.

Cascais is a municipality of Lisbon and you can easily get there from Lisbon by taking the coastal train from Cais do Sodre which takes about 40 minutes. If you are visiting Lisbon for 2 or 3 days and you’d like to mix that holiday atmosphere with your city break, then I can’t recommend Cascais highly enough.

The train costs €5.00 for a return trip but it’s included for Free when you purchase the Lisboa Travel Card

Cascais is located Here